Wellspring

Wellspring is a showcase of The Wittliff’s iconic literary, music, and photography collections. The Wittliff has a long legacy as a source of inspiration, creativity, and artistic excellence. The Wellspring exhibition highlights defining works from each pillar of The Wittliff Collections, featuring Southwestern writers, Southwestern & Mexican photography, and Texas Music.  

In 1986, Bill and Sally Wittliff created the Southwestern Writers Collection with a small donation of materials from the estate of J. Frank Dobie. With that act of foresight and generosity, they launched the mission of The Wittliff Collections: to collect, preserve, and share the cultural and creative legacy of Texas, the Southwest, and Mexico.

Forty years later, The Wittliff has grown to become the world’s largest and most comprehensive archive of Southwestern writers, Southwestern and Mexican photographers, and Texas musicians. Now holding over five hundred collections, The Wittliff is home to such significant literary figures as Cormac McCarthy and Sandra Cisneros, vanguard musicians like Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker, and the finest collection of Mexican documentary photography outside of Mexico.